Wednesday 25 February 2026
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The Mighty Headlines
Economics: US imposes new global tariffs of 10% for 150 days
Business and markets: JP Morgan CEO sees return of pre-2008 behaviours
Foreign Affairs: North Korea’s Kim Jong Un promotes sister
Security and intelligence: Iran set to buy anti-ship missiles from China
Domestic politics: Reform UK to use £500 billion of council pension funds
The Mighty Stats
FTSE = 10,680.59 (down 0.039%)
S&P 500 = 6,890.07 (up 0.77%)
Nasdaq = 22,863.68 (up 1.04%)
Stoxx 600 = 629.14 (up 0.23%)
£1 = $1.35 / €1.15
Lab / Con / Reform = 18 / 18 / 24 per cent (YouGov, 23 February 2026)
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The Mighty Detail
Economics: The US imposed new additional tariffs of 10 per cent yesterday. The tariffs will apply for 150 days to imports from all countries “unless specifically exempt”. It is unclear whether they will apply to the UK or Australia which have already negotiated tariffs of 10 per cent in trade deals.
Business and markets: The CEO of JP Morgan, Jamie Dimon, has warned that he sees parallels in today’s banking environment with the years leading up to the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. Dimon cites peers “doing some dumb things to create NII” and also warned of the effect of AI on the software industry.
NII refers to Net Interest Income – the difference between what a bank earns in interest from assets (e.g. loans) and what it pays out in interest on liabilities (e.g. customer deposits).
JP Morgan, the largest US bank, is expecting to earn around $104.6 billion in NII this year.
Foreign Affairs: Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has been promoted to Department Director within North Korea’s Communist Party. The move was announced during the Party Congress – the first in five years – in which Kim Jong Un was re-elected as General Secretary.
South Korea’s intelligence agency has separately noted that Kim Jong Un’s teenage daughter, Kim Ju Ae, seems to have been designated as his successor.
Security and intelligence: It is being reported that Iran is set to purchase supersonic CM‑302 missiles from China. The anti-ship missiles have a range of around 180 miles. The news comes as the US increases its naval forces in the sea around Iran. China denies knowledge of the talks, which are said to have started around two years ago.
Domestic politics: Reform UK has said that it plans to use £500 billion of assets in local government pension funds to invest in UK businesses and infrastructure projects. The money would be managed as a quasi-sovereign wealth fund.
The Mighty Calendar
What’s happening today?
Germany’s Chancellor Merz meets President Xi in Beijing
Prime Minister’s Questions in UK House of Commons
Microsoft and Facebook officials appear before UK Parliament’s Joint Human Rights Committee
Eurozone CPI inflation data (January) – set to fall from 1.9% to 1.7%
Company results from: Nvidia, HSBC, Paramount, E.ON, Aston Martin, Heathrow, Salesforce
Lookahead to tomorrow
Gorton and Denton by election
Hilary Clinton appears before US House Oversight Committee (Bill Clinton appears before it on Friday)
Culture Questions in UK House of Commons
Company results from: Ocado, Drax, Rolls-Royce, Stellantis, WPP, London Stock Exchange, Bayer
The Mighty Finale
🌤️Weather today
A beautiful sunny day in the southeast of England! High of 16C and low of 8C in London. Sunny spells in the northeast. Rain elsewhere in England unfortunately. Light rain in Belfast and Edinburgh.
✏️Life coaching quote of the day
“We can only have one thought at a time. I remember hearing that for the first time and wondering why something so obvious had never occurred to me before. If we can only have one thought at a time, then, surely, we can just choose to replace a negative thought with a positive one, right? The answer is yes.” – Roxie Nafousi, motivational writer
Mighty takeaway: Positive thoughts lead to positive results. Negative thoughts lead to negative results. Think positively!
That’s it for this Wednesday morning. See you again on Friday.
Adios!
The Mighty Memo team
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